Outspoken cleric set to become Bishop of Manchester

An outspoken cleric who took on David Cameron over welfare cuts and accused
politicians of scaremongering over immigration is expected to be appointed
to one of the most senior posts in the Church of England.

The Rt Rev David Walker, currently the Bishop of Dudley, is being tipped as the next Bishop of Manchester, The Daily Telegraph understands.

An announcement from Downing Street about the appointment could be made as early as today.

The Bishop attracted headlines in the run-up to Easter this year when he condemned hardline rhetoric over immigration as unchristian – just as David Cameron was preparing to announce tough new measures.

He was also highly critical of the so-called bedroom tax and was one of the leading signatories to a letter to The Sunday Telegraph, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, warning that a cap on welfare increases could drive children into poverty.

But his views on homosexuality and the Government’s plans for gay marriage will also be closely followed.

In an almost unprecedented move earlier this year, the diocese of Manchester made clear that it was specifically looking for a bishop willing to build bridges with the city’s gay community

Representatives of the diocese listed being able to foster “positive relationships” with Manchester’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the job description for the new bishop.

So far only one diocesan bishop, the Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Rev Nicholas Holtam, has spoken out in favour of gay marriage.

Educated at Manchester Grammar School and Cambridge University, the 56-year-old father of two was a priest in South Yorkshire for 17 years before being made Bishop of Dudley, a junior bishop in the diocese of Worcester.

He attracted national attention earlier this year accusing politicians of inflating public fears about immigration and making immigrants as political “scapegoats”.

In an interview with The Observer, he added: “It is especially galling in Holy Week, when Christians are remembering how Jesus himself became the scapegoat in a political battle, to see politicians vying with each other in just such a process.”

He will succeed the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, who retired earlier this year.